


the urgent snow

by codedredalert



Series: the law novels have no power over me (heart pirates fics) [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Character Study, Comfort, Could Be Canon, Friendship, Gen, young heart pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24526402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/codedredalert/pseuds/codedredalert
Summary: The worst part about wanting to kill Doflamingo is that Law hasn't done it yet. The second worst part is that he can't stop thinking he should, all dangers and consequences be damned.His crew is more than willing to resort to a bit of insubordination to keep him safe.
Relationships: Donquixote Doflamingo & Trafalgar D. Water Law, Heart Pirates & Trafalgar D. Water Law
Series: the law novels have no power over me (heart pirates fics) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679461
Comments: 4
Kudos: 82





	the urgent snow

Usually, Law does not hate the snow. He's North Blue-born, snow is just like air, like sea, like birds or clouds. It just _is_. 

But there are days where snow blankets and buffets, deafening everything but the sound of Law's own mind. And those are days where Law hates everything; air, sea, and snow included. 

Law paces the mountain crevice they took shelter in. It's barely ten steps across, and feels even smaller with his crew sitting or lying down. Law has to step around Penguin sitting cross-legged and leaning against a wall, turn where Bepo is curled up at the inmost corner of the cave, and step over Shachi where he is using Bepo as a pillow. 

There's no space. Law's legs have gotten ridiculously long and he can't move anywhere near fast enough to burn through the restlessness and discomfort building up in his head. He can already feel the headache, the tension in his jaw, neck and shoulders, the churning in his stomach. His bones ache from the cold and from growing so much all at once. The aches are uncomfortably reminiscent of his long-cured Amber Lead Syndrome. He would have just clamped those receptors shut if it didn't just prove how _pathetic_ he was.

"Hey, chill, you're gonna wear a hole in the fancy carpet," Shachi says and Law just _can't_. He stops abruptly, _rounds_ on the redhead, would have literally taken him to pieces if he still had a sword. He's somewhere between feeling numb and feeling everything, the pulse of his heartbeat down to the tips of his fingers. He wants to break someone's bones—Shachi's, his own, _anyone's_. (Doflamingo's, even though Law would die doing so.)

"Fine," Law hears himself say, his tone of voice ice-cold and dispassionate. He's almost proud of himself for that control. "I'll leave." 

He turns to do so, but Penguin is already on his feet, bodily blocking the way. The cold air goes around him, ever so slightly warmer, split into two.

"He's just joking," says Penguin, softly, cautious. When Law doesn't answer to that, he continues. "Where would you even go? In this storm." 

Anywhere. Not here. Not hiding in the near-useless shelter of a shallow cave, feeling like a walking mass of ants, and _wasting time_. 

Law opens his mouth to speak but no sound comes out. He tries again, tries to form words, but only gets a low, raw noise of frustration. The only thing he can think of to say is " _Doflamingo is out there_ ", but that says _nothing_ of what he feels. His savior's murderer, freely enjoying borrowed time, ill-gotten gains, and undeserved power. The nightmare constantly in the back of Law's mind, beckoning somewhere beyond the raging blizzard—unrepentant, mocking, and _wrong._ Law wants to tear his throat out so badly he can't breathe— 

Penguin steps forward, abruptly in his space, arms outstretched hesitantly. Law flinches, but doesn't move beyond a glare, allowing Penguin's arms to rest on him, pull him close. It offers his whirling mind an anchor, an alternate explanation as to why he feels suffocated. 

Behind him, Law hears a rustle of fabric, Shachi getting to his feet. A deep yawn and a whisper of fur against stone, Bepo waking. 

They'd try to stop him with force, Law realises, and the anger in him flares anew. They wouldn't succeed. They couldn't take him years ago, when he was small and reeling with pain, starvation, and Amber Lead. They couldn't possibly stop him now, even all together. 

But even as he thinks this, he stays where he is, looking past Penguin's shoulder to where the snow whirls past the entrance of their shelter. The roaring wind still comes in, and the bitter cold still gnaws at all the small bones in his hands and wrists. ( _Carpal bones, metacarpal bones, phalanges_ , his mind supplies, and then it remembers a deeper voice saying, _Do remember your studies, Law. I expect better of my executives._ )

"Captain?" prompts Penguin, when Law has stood there silent for too long. "What's wrong? Is it…that guy?" 

Law exhales sharply, the shadow of a laugh even as Penguin censors himself. 

"Who else?" Law asks. "I'll kill him someday." 

That feels right to say, so Law swears once more, an oath in Cora-san's memory— 

" _I'll kill him_."

It's a promise. He will see it through and _nothing_ will stop him. Not heaven, or earth, or all the blue oceans besides. It's the least of what he owes. 

Penguin's hold shifts but he doesn't let go, not even to look at Law. He's probably making meaningful faces at Shachi. Law can feel Shachi's gaze burning a hole in his coat between his shoulder blades.

"Fine," concludes Penguin, at the end of whatever little silent exchange they had. "But getting killed by the weather isn't going to give you what you want." 

"You don't know that," retorts Law, though it sounds stupid and petulant the moment he says it.

" _You're_ the one always saying we need to _think_!" Shachi bursts out, patience clearly exhausted. "And now you're being _stupid_ and you know it."

Law says nothing. There's nothing to say that can explain so they understand. 

_Doflamingo is_ _out there._

The need pulls him like a magnet, like a vice grip, like a mousetrap. The birdcage, unbearably small.

"What's happening?" asks Bepo, voice uncertain and sleepy. His voice comes from behind Shachi's knees. He doesn't try to stand, the ceiling isn't high enough and he'd bumped his head coming in. 

" _Captain_ wants to fight a warlord with his bare hands." Shachi's voice is clipped over Law's title, sarcastic. "Oh, and he's also suddenly in the mood for a lil' walk out in a sub-zero ice storm. Can't wait." 

Law ought to respond to that, he ought to demand respect, but he can't say anything. His throat feels tight, his shoulders feel drawn taut with live wire. 

A pause. 

A _long_ pause. 

"But," Bepo's tone was just pure, innocent confusion. "You only fight for real when you're grown."

Law is dumbfounded. He pushes Penguin away to turn and look at Bepo. They all do.

"What?" asks Shachi.

Bepo falters with all of them staring. 

"Um, it's… my brother, before he left, um." Bepo drops his head, his voice getting softer and softer until it was almost inaudible. "I mean, back on Zou, when I asked why he wouldn't let me go with him. Um… I mean, it's not important… sorry… never mind..." 

By the last word, the polar bear mink is pancake-flat on the floor and covering his face with his paws. 

Law takes a breath that struggles to get into his lungs and slumps back against the cave wall. His surprise had just cut his anger off at the knees, and suddenly there's just no strength left in him, like a marionette whose strings were abruptly snapped. There's a big empty void where his anger and hate have a permanent residence. They're sort of… not gone, never gone, but squished down, for now. He has no doubt they'll return to full force, but for now, that wellspring has space and in that emptiness, everything is strangely hilarious. 

Meanwhile, the others are staring. 

"I'm not grown yet, hm?" Law asks aloud in that odd dead humour, floating atop his restless hatred. Maybe it even passes for calm or friendly. He directs the question at Bepo, who becomes even more flustered. 

"Um! No, Captain! I mean, yes— " 

Shachi cracks up and Penguin starts snickering as Bepo makes one cut-off protest after another. 

The tension bleeds out of the air and they leave him be so that he can concentrate on getting himself back under control.

 _I'm allowed time to get ready_ , Law silently whispers to himself, eyes closed. _I'm allowed time_. 

He repeats that until he almost believes it, and the snowstorm outside grudgingly slows to a stop.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> A little exercise/ experimentation, un-beta'd. Was on the fence about posting but I needed to make myself stop messing with it so I can go do other things haha


End file.
